Tue, 10/08/10 – 15:46PM | Filed in blog by scott | Views: 295 | Comments: 0

This past week has been nothing short of amazing for music lovers in Kuala Lumpur. On Saturday there was Heineken Green Room featuring The Rapture and MTV World Stage featuring the likes of Tokio Hotel and Katy Perry. On Sunday, we had By Demand: Coheed & Cambria, the highly-talented Orianthi on Wednesday; and on Thursday we had the honour of welcoming legendary rock n’ roll guitarist Slash to Malaysia for the first time ever, in conjunction with his world tour to promote his new self-titled album.

Crowds were beginning to converge at Sunway shortly after lunchtime, with several hopeful fans spotted toting guitars and cameras in hopes of bumping into Slash himself. (The writer actually bumped into Myles Kennedy but didn’t realise it until much later) There were actually a few decked out in top hats and/or leather jackets too, despite the fact that the concert was going to be held at an outdoor venue.

Opening for the top-hatted guitar god was our local rock legend Amy Search, as well as the winner of the “Bintang Rock Hot FM”, Blister, who won the right to open for Slash.

Despite having played four shows in the past week before his maiden showcase in Malaysia, the man himself showed no signs of fatigue, starting the show with the first track off his new album, ‘Ghost’.

With Myles Kennedy on lead vocals, Slash & co. played a combination of songs from the new album and bands that Slash has played in, with tracks from Guns N’ Roses (‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’, ‘Nightrain’, ‘Paradise City’), Slash’s Snakepit (‘Mean Bone’) and more recently, supergroup Velvet Revolver (‘Dirty Little Thing’, ‘Slither’). The surprise inclusion on the setlist was the AlterBridge song ‘Rise Today’, as a large majority of the fans in attendance were there for Slash.

After receiving a lukewarm response to playing an AlterBridge song, Myles Kennedy began introducing the other members of the band, before Slash in return introduced him to the crowd, resulting in a witty exchange between the two – after Slash went, “See dude? They love you!”, Myles replied, “Well at least I know someone loves me,” sparking much laughter from the fans.

Shortly after, Slash broke into a little shred-a-thon, wowing the fans while making a joke of the general preconceived notion that he’s best at the slow, emotionally powerful solos. With the fans still amazed after his virtuosic display of skill, he cheekily began playing the opening notes to that classic rock anthem that brought his old band Guns N’ Roses to the forefront of the music world, ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’. And to no surprise, everyone present went crazy.

The entire crowd began jumping and singing alon – it was honestly quite hard to hear anything, until the song reached its climax, with Slash dishing out his trademark face-melting solos, to which some enthusiastic fans began doing the air guitar routine, following the exact motions of the curly-haired, top-hatted guitar god onstage.

After playing ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’, the band went off stage, prompting the crowd to call them out for an encore. Chants of “We want more!” and “One more song!” rang out, as the crowd demanded their money’s worth.

Emerging from backstage for their encore, Slash & co. went on to perform the 2005 Grammy Award-winning song ‘Slither’ originally played by supergroup Velvet Revolver, triggering mosh pits and jump pits all through the crowd, before Myles Kennedy called out to the crowd in the lead up to the last song of the night. “Paradise what?” he asked several times, each replied with a unified scream of “City!!!”. What a tease! Slash began playing the memorable intro to the song as a fitting final song for the night.

WORDS Matt Liew PHOTOS Joshua Chay

By Daryl Goh and Noorsila Abd Majid

Few musicians in rock ‘n’ roll can carry off a single name, and carry it with gravitas. That is except Slash. And few guitarists command as much respect as Slash (real name Saul Hudson).

The pioneering  member of Los Angeles-based hellraisers Guns N’ Roses  and  one  of  hard  rock’s  finest  guitarists  is  set to rock Malaysia for the very first time on Aug 5.

The Slash concert venue, subject to permits and confirmation, is tentatively Sunway Lagoon in Selangor.

“We’re still working on his permit. It shouldn’t be a problem for Slash to perform here,” assures Datuk Mohammad Mohammad Daud, deputy secretary-general of the Information, Communications and Culture Ministry, the powers that be in issuing performing license to local and international acts.

“However, we might propose a change of venue because we don’t think Sunway Lagoon is suitable for a rock icon of Slash’s stature.”

Back in blistering live form, Slash, 44, is touring in support of his highly acclaimed recently released solo self titled debut.

Slash’s touring band includes Alter Bridge’s Myles Kennedy (vocals), Bobby Schneck (guitar), Todd Kerns (bass) and Brent Fitz (drums). For a celebrated rock star that has such an illustrious past, Slash has confirmed he will perform a mix of his new solo material, Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver songs. Among the Guns N’ Roses classics featured in his concert sets include Civil War, Sweet Child O’ Mine, Night Train, Paradise City and Nice Boys.

Tickets details for Slash’s show in Malaysia to be announced soon.

Published May 26 2010

http://www.dailychilli.com/happenings/4014-slash-to-rock-malaysia

Posted by azuan in :: All Posts ::, Featured Articles, Firefly Airline on 06 30th, 2010 | 5 responses

It was 17 years ago when I first received a special gift for my excellent UPSR exam results. A mini-compo stereo set that came with a high-tech CD Player which in the year 1993 is considered advance technology and exciting. I still remember my first CD that I bought to test out the set. It was none other than Guns & Roses Spaghetti Incident.

The reason was simple; nothing beats the sound of solo guitar and hard rock on a new radio set, no matter how funny the set look today!

Eventually from the Spaghetti Incident album I fell in love with Guns N Roses in particular listening to Slash in action as there is nothing cooler than the sound of lead guitarist mastering a music piece. Like many, my favourite songs would be the famous “November Rain”, “Sweet Child of Mine” and the less famous “Down of the Farm” and “Since I Don’t Have You”

Ranked #2 by Time Magazine in August 2009 in the “10 Best Electric Guitar Players of All-Time”, Slash is a rock legend. He is one of the most distinctive and in-demand guitarists of the last 30 years, equally confident working in hard rock and pop.

He is even cool enough to be a key character in Guitar Hero, “Now Everyone Can Be Slash” !

And many do not know that Slash is no stranger to Malaysia’s music industry. The master himself had a touch in one of our Rock Queen, Ella’s hit single. Check out the music video of Bayangan which features the sound of Slash on guitar alongside Ella’s strong vocal.

Click here to view the video.

I cannot hide my excitement when I first got to know that my favourite airline, Firefly is actually bringing in Slash for a concert in Malaysia! Yes, here in Malaysia!

For those Firefly and Slash fans, grab the early bird tickets at www.fatdeal.com.my or any Firefly Ticketing offices. If you are from outside KL, visit www.fireflyholidays.com for great travel packages for this concert!

I’m going to the concert alone so please feel free to contact me if you are going! The more the merrier!

See you all there and ROCK ON!